The present invention relates generally to the transmission of electronic information over an electronic network, and specifically to user control of the content of the information being received, and particularly when communication conditions are poor. Poor communication may result from network congestion, from transmission difficulties associated with the area from which the transmitting device operates, or from reception difficulties associated with the area in which the receiver operates. The transmission of the different forms of content is controlled in accordance with priorities set by the user, and the system is capable of deleting content under poor communication conditions beginning with that of lowest priority.
Both portable and cellular telephones are becoming increasingly popular for portable telephone use, particularly for users who are interested in rapid, mobile communication. As computational power and memory space increases, a demand has arisen for additional communication services to be provided through such devices. Telephone users anticipate the availability a variety of multimedia information, including e-mail (electronic mail) messages, Web pages and even full-motion video, both for broadcasts and closed-circuit television.
Computer networks, such as the Internet, now carry data for multimedia applications, which are particularly latency-sensitive, or vulnerable to delay. For example, a delay experienced during the transmission of voice data interrupts the telephone conversation. In contrast, a delay in downloading a Web page is less problematic to the user. Conversely, voice transmission requires less bandwidth (bits per second) than receiving a Web page, for example, but does require an uninterrupted amount of bandwidth.
Rich media streaming involves various types of media such as audio, video, text, and/or images. Media streaming involves various network conditions with different bandwidths and delays. In streaming, a receiving device reproduces sound or video in real time as the signal is downloaded over the Internet, as opposed to storing the signal in a local file first. A plug-in to a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator, decompresses and plays the data as it is transferred to a personal computer over the Internet. Streaming audio or video avoids the delay entailed in downloading an entire file and then reproducing it with a helper application. Streaming requires a fast connection and a computer with sufficient processing capability to execute the decompression algorithm in real-time.
Furthermore, various receiving terminals have different receiving capabilities. A wide usage of cellular handsets and an expected appearance of 3rd generation (3G) handsets with rich media receiving capabilities, are bringing the rich media flow control issue from the internet field into the cellular domain with added constraints due to reduced size, portability and wireless transmission. However, existing media flow control protocols deal only with technical parameters of data communication. Existing protocols do not address the general content characteristics within the information stream.
For example, if a user is watching a video message on a cellular handset, and suddenly enters an area with poor reception, not all the transmitted information is received. Transmission may include video such as a xe2x80x9ctalking headxe2x80x9d, video as scenery, audio, and animation such as a white board drawing. When the speaker is known, the user is likely to prefer to omit the talking head, preferring only to hear the audio, and more importantly, to see the white board. Like the laminated conference-room board, from which the name is derived, an electronic white board is used for collaborating on documents. Electronic white boards are programs that allow multiple users teleconferencing at remote computers to draw, write and erase, in turn, on the same document.
Another user, for example, is most interested in seeing the face of the speaker, and in the case where some information is preferably relinquished, prefers to give up the background scenery video. The need for such content based flow control is being created by the convergence of electronic networks with small, portable, wireless devices that simply can not deliver all the media information all of the time. Existing Quality of Service (QoS) protocols are based on a request of priority, e.g. Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), that allows channels or paths on the Internet to be reserved for the multicast transmission of video and other high-bandwidth messages. However, prioritizing is not a solution since such a request only makes the network more congested by sending more information through the network. Each RSVP node sends periodic RSVP messages for each existing RSVP session. The overhead due to such periodic state refreshes increases linearly with the number of active RSVP sessions.
The basic routing philosophy on the Internet is xe2x80x9cbest-effort,xe2x80x9d which serves most users well enough, but is inadequate for the continuous stream transmission required for video and audio programs over the Internet. With RSVP, users who want to receive a particular Internet xe2x80x9cprogramxe2x80x9d (for example, a television program broadcast over the Internet) can reserve bandwidth through the Internet in advance of the program, and are able to receive the program at a higher data rate, and in a more dependable data flow than usual. When the program starts, it is multicast to those specific users who have reserved routing priority in advance.
For example, in the case where a particular video program is to be multicast at a certain time and date. A user desiring to receive the broadcast sends an RSVP request before the broadcast to allocate sufficient bandwidth and priority of packetscheduling for the program. The request goes to the nearest Internet gateway with an RSVP server. The server determines whether sufficient bandwidth remains to be reserved without affecting earlier reservations. The gateway then forwards the reservation to the next gateway toward the destination (or source of multicast). In this manner, the reservation is ensured all the way to the destination.
Other QoS protocols distinguish between various application protocols, e.g. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for Internet browsing vs. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for file downloading. Various applications have different communication needs. For example, Internet browsing preferably involves interactive response, while file transfer does not. Therefore, some QoS protocols provide HTTP data with faster delivery. Existing QoS protocols do not provide the network with the ability to optimize whatever capacity is available according to user preferences, such as a reduction in the volume of data to be transferred, but only request better performance for a specific transfer at the expense of other transfers. A rich media stream is all the more susceptible to network conditions such as the dynamic bandwidth issue described hereinabove, which may, for example, force interruption of one type of media such as video. Also, not every terminal can receive all types of media content (a fixed condition, as opposed to the dynamic conditions of network congestion). For example, today""s pre-3G cellphones cannot show video. All known control protocols deal with specific communications media types only (video only, audio only, etc.). None is dealing with the content within the stream.
In the hierarchy of communications protocols media type is a lower communication layer than media content on the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI), 7 layer model of communication. Media Access Control (MAC) differs for various physical media, that is, media type. MAC is a sublayer of layer 2, the data link layer. Media content is part of the presentation layer, the second highest layer (layer 6), and performs functions such as text compression code or format conversion to try to smooth out differences between hosts. The application layer, the top (7th) layer of the OSImodel, is concerned with the user""s view of the network. This layer handles issues like network transparency, resource allocation and problem partitioning. RSVP is a transport protocol, layer 4. The transport layer determines how to use the network layer to provide a virtual error-free, point to point connection so that host A can send messages to host B and they arrive un-corrupted and in the correct order. When some information is omitted to avoid a general garbling of the overall content, it is preferable for the user to decide what to omit, and to decide based on content and not on technical parameters such as the media protocol (HTTP, FTP, etc). Furthermore, a decision to omit some information, when desirable, provides added value both to the network and to the user.
The network can be proactive and send only partial information when appropriate, while the user is more likely to receive only what is really needed. Content based control protocol assumes that rich media can be tagged according to content. Accordingly, the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has set a target to provide a media tagging standard, based on content. The MPEG group has suggested that the newest standard being developed, the MPEG-7, should call for technical suggestions for a standard that resembles the Rich Media Mapping Protocol (RMMP) described hereinbelow. Presently, MPEG-7 is being discussed as including a new supporting layer for content description in preparation for large volume rich media message service. Mobile requirements are not covered under MPEG-7, although the mobile (cellphone and/or personal computer) handsets are becoming the leading manifestation of rich media terminals.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and a system for enabling the network to transmit a lower volume of information when appropriate and different users may choose to omit extraneous information in different circumstances. Existing QoS protocols do not use any information about the content of the media being transferred and therefore miss an opportunity for user decision-making based on preferences for received information.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to overcome the limitations of existing transmission protocols and to provide an improved method and system for user control of the content of received and transmitted electronic information.
It is a further object of some aspects of the present invention to provide an improved method and system for a protocol for user control of the content of received and/or transmitted electronic information.
In accordance with a preferred method of the present invention ,there is provided a method for sending and receiving a plurality of content forms of electronic information, comprising the steps of adapting a transmission content format for tagging at least one of the content forms; storing at least one user reception profile for defining and prioritizing said plurality of content forms; measuring the quality of communications conditions associated with at least one of the group including: network congestion, transmission quality, and reception quality; and notifying the sender, if said measured quality of communications conditions falls below a predetermined level, to adjust the tagged transmission format and send only those content forms defined in said at least one stored user reception profile.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, a receiving terminal is encoded with a table of preset reception profiles according to user preferences, for example: talking head, target body, voice only, white board only, and scenery
In a preferred embodiment, a streaming server normally sends a rich media stream comprising a plurality of content forms, for example, audio, video, text, images, etc. The diversity of content known in the art is encapsulated by the term xe2x80x9cwallpaper videoxe2x80x9d. Wallpaper video is a term denoting generic visuals, graphics, or other stills or tape that can be used as introductions or backgrounds, or that can be inserted in a window on the screen. Wallpaper video is commonly used in televised newscasts.
A Content Based Control Channel (CBCC) created by a Content Based Control Protocol (CBCP) allows the user at various junctures of media reception to change his reception profile. The receiving terminal notifies the streaming server which content to send during periods of communications problems. Preferably, the CBCC informs the streaming server which form, or forms, of content to send.
A preferred embodiment includes a corresponding protocol, Rich Media Mapping Protocol (RMMP). Such a protocol enables xe2x80x9cintelligentxe2x80x9d navigation within rich media files (video, audio, fax, voice mail etc). Thus, by introducing the separation of content and headers, existing protocols can be adapted to such a separation. Thus, RMMP is the application of new protocols to have separate headers for each content in the media streams. RMMP is the rich media equivalent of HTTP. RMMP is preferably accompanied by a Rich Media Markup Language (RMML) which corresponds to HTML.
Furthermore, RMML achieves for mobile devices what the Wireless Markup Language (WML) and the Handheld Markup Language (HDML) achieve for handheld devices.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system for sending and receiving electronic information having a plurality of content forms over an electronic network, according to a plurality of user electronic profiles, comprising transmission means operable to adapt a transmission content format for tagging at least one of the content forms; memory means for storing at least one user reception profile for defining and prioritizing said plurality of content forms; measuring the quality of communications conditions associated with at least one of the group including network congestion; transmission quality; reception quality; and receiving means operable to notify said transmission means, if said measured quality of communications conditions falls below a predetermined level, to adjust the tagged transmission format and send only those content forms defined in said at least one stored user reception profile